Usually, brands use the Olympics to introduce an up-and-coming athlete ambassador or hype a new version of their hero product. But this year at the Milano-Cortina games, Nike took to one of the sports world’s biggest stages to promote its little-known ACG sub-label.
ACG, which stands for All Conditions Gear, has maintained a quiet presence under Nike’s umbrella since it was founded in 1989 as the anchor to the brand’s outdoors category. The idea was to create footwear that could perform across all sorts of terrains and conditions. While it has always been niche — Nike has never broken out sales figures for the label — it’s also played a small but essential part of Nike’s business from a cultural standpoint.
There’s a long list of ACG footwear models that have stolen the hearts of sneaker enthusiasts across the globe, if not the general public. There’s the Mowabb, designed by Tinker Hatfield, who created the look of some of the most iconic Air Jordans, the Air Humara, LDV and many more. The Nike Goadome has a song written about it.
ACG outdoor apparel has evolved into a gorpcore staple through the years, mostly through word of mouth. Which makes Nike’s aggressive rebrand, and even more aggressive promotion this year, all the more surprising to longtime fans.
“It’s amazing to see the brand finally get real support, and honestly shocking to see ACG anchor Nike’s Winter Olympics campaign,” one Reddit user wrote. “Tbh, I doubt the majority of people will even recognise the brand.”
But what, exactly, is Nike up to? ACG may be a case of Nike recognising its brand was in the right place at the right time. The gorpcore trend that had urban shoppers wearing technical gear from outdoor brands is past its peak. But instead of fading, it’s evolved: today, consumers are drawn to brands that blend those technical garments with athletic gear built for specific functions, such as trail running, hiking and more.
ACG was already well-positioned to tap into trail running, an area of growing consumer interest. Nike gives the brand a head start, given that it is synonymous with athletic footwear.
The upside is potentially massive. Nike’s outerwear has always had the perception of being more fashion-forward, but ACG’s rebrand could be the company’s vehicle into the outdoors performance space, said Matt Powell, a senior advisor at BCE Consulting.
“There’s no reason Nike ACG couldn’t be as big as The North Face or as big as Columbia,” he said. “Nike has a natural advantage of being able to have a larger shoe business than North Face or Columbia because of their grounding in footwear. This is a viable, new adjacent business of them.”
In an email, Scott LeClair, who leads the ACG brand at Nike, said he believes the sub-label’s transition positions it as a firm leader in the outdoor market, given its cultural history and product range.
“Over time, ACG has thrived in different pockets of performance and culture,” Scott LeClair, Nike’s Vice President and GM of ACG, said in a statement to The Business of Fashion. “As we step into the future, we will be laser-focused on being the best outdoor performance brand we can be.”
Showing Up Through Sports
The new approach to ACG fits snuggly into Nike’s overall sport offence strategy that has the brand recentering its athletes and the performance-boosting properties of its products.
In August, for instance, Nike launched the Radical AirFlow top that claims to keep athletes cooler through holes that funnel air to the skin. It also launched its new trail supershoe, the ACG Ultrafly. The brand had trail marathon runner Caleb Olson wear both during the 2025 Western States men’s ultra-marathon in June, where he posted the second-fastest time in the course’s history.
But it was the Winter Olympics that delivered the label’s biggest moment.
“Our presence at the Olympics felt distinctly ACG,” LeClair said.
ACG generated $7.7 million in media impact value during the Olympics, according to LaunchMetrics. That included the brand’s collaboration with Jannik Sinner for Nike’s new athlete “atelier” service, in which the tennis star had a bespoke ACG jacket created for him. Before he became one of the best tennis players in the world, Sinner was a championship youth skier in Italy. The ACG collaboration was built around that story.
It also included the launch of the All Condition Express train — an orange, ACG-labeled express train that went on a four-day journey from Milan into the Orobic Alps filled with the brand’s gear. Nike hired local tour guides to lead the experiences for consumers. Nike teamed up with Sunst Studio and Playlab, who worked with Virgil Abloh on activations for Louis Vuitton, to create the train.
ACG isn’t completely abandoning lifestyle. Travis Scott was also seen at the Olympics wearing an unreleased Cactus Plant Flea Market ACG collaboration.
Full Speed Ahead
It’s still early days for this new iteration of Nike’s ACG line. While the brand has generated buzz, sales numbers will determine whether this is a viable long-term play. Regardless, the brand has confidence in its plan and is pushing forward with its ACG restructure.
These days it’s operating more along the lines of a brand like Converse or Jordan Brand than a simple sub-label. Nike is folding its Nike Trail business under the ACG umbrella, where it will continue to build its performance products under the label. ACG also opened its first standalone store in Beijing’s Sanlitun Taikoo Li shopping center where it sells equipment for hiking and trail running.
Powell said, while ACG continues to build, it’s important to ground itself with the right products. For example, while the Olympics were an interesting moment for the brand, he’s unsure that the Winter Games — and winter sports, overall — will generate the strongest return on investment. Instead, he said, he’d rather see a larger focus on outdoors and trail running.
“How does Nike market themselves in basketball? With real basketball players wearing their shoes on the court and winning,” he said. “You really are looking at the same thing here, just applied to a different category.”
Despite ACG’s injection into the mainstream, it’s important for the label to remember the original fans who have propelled it to this point. The same Redditor who praised Nike’s renewed interest in ACG had some concerns about the brand’s direction, too.
“I understand the legacy ACG brand/community is too niche for Nike’s future, but at this point, ACG doesn’t really feel as bold or unique as it once was,” they wrote. “The new ACG identity feels like a mish-mosh of Trail and modern Nike design languages, which I guess we just have to accept.”
Still, Powell said, Nike has the right idea with this transformation. ACG has the chance to push Nike deeper into a space it hasn’t been in, he said, which would ultimately be a big win for the business at a time when its searching for new foundational pieces.
“I think they’re on the right track with the way they’re attacking this,” Powell said.
